Zen and the Art of Multitasking…

Alright, so I concede that I may not be all THAT stoic. Maybe this better depicts things:

It is easy for all of us to get wrapped up in the ‘doing’. Doing, however, is a point of the present and few of us actually ‘do’ that. In fact, the ‘doing’ that I refer to that plagues many of us is the one where we are at 3PM in our minds when we are at 6AM in our bathroom brushing our teeth, racing through the lists and litany of tasks that we perceive lie before us, never accepting that most of it is fiction and simply conjured by our busy minds (all of which, of course, is dependent on whether we get up that early).

A great man once said to me, “don’t sweat the small stuff,” and within that is one of life’s great virtues.

Today, like so many days these days – an editor would have a ball with that phrase – I find myself multitasking. Reams of evidence leans to the conclusion that the act of doing many things at once is not really a good thing. Multitask often; die young. In fact, research conducted at Stanford University found that multitasking is “less productive than doing a single thing at a time”. People who are continuously bombarded with several streams of information simultaneously can’t pay attention or remember anything. But society rewards those with a multitasking ‘gift’, even when the same research indicates that such individuals are actually worse at performance than those who do one thing at a time. Multiple studies, including the Stanford one, also concluded that multitasking lowers you IQ and, in the long-term, may cause brain damage. Lastly, multitasking is the most effective (or rather ineffective) at dragging someone from the present, worrying and thinking less about what they are actually doing – but what they are about to do.

So what does all this mean?

Well, according to the research – I’m brain damaged.

I must predicate the coming point with this: I’m damned happy right now. Life is fun, challenging, exciting and rewarding.

There, now that I have that out of the way…

There are mornings when I wish I was four people or, alternatively, had a 48-hour day. What further complicates the process is the reality that many who I deal with regarding the book (did you know that I had written a book? Hehe.), are in other countries in other time zones. If I extrapolate out what I ‘need to get done’ and attempt to process the myriad of things and ideas that are associated with each, the back tenses, the shoulders rise, the heart beats stronger and the pulse quickens. I sometimes find myself saying things like, “well, it’s got to get done,” or “how the hell can I get all this done?”

And there it is.

What a strange thing to wish for. What unhealthy thoughts to have, instead of teaching ourselves that within every moment of every day lies a treasure. As Persig called it, we are surrounded by Quality.

Think about what would happen if you filled up and accomplished ALL the things on your list, all the draws and strings that push and pull at you. What would you do then? Yes, exactly – you would simply fill your mind back up.

We can be busy. We can ‘do’ many things. And yet, to celebrate the passage of our ‘being’ through the river flow of what we perceive as time – that which all life really is to the Observer – a breathing moment – one must recognize it.

When I cut the wood, I choose to feel and celebrate the process of creation and change occurring as the saw passes through the cut. Every single act is wonderful if we recognize that at any given moment our lives could and one day will end. Does that not add meaning to every motion, every ‘doing’?

I slip out of this blissful Zen state about five minutes after choosing to practice it. But it used to be a minute. Sometimes, I go hours – days – of being present, and those are the moments that resonate, those are the places in my life of Quality. Worry and pressure and anxiety are creations of extrapolation, fictitious meanderings of the mind anticipating and warning, seeking and craving. When we hear it, we have the ability to learn to laugh at it, and tell our minds, “thank you for trying to protect me from the unseen and unknown and I am here, now – and those things are not.” We can turn off the switch and ‘be’.

As I write this, my mind tells me, “hurry, you have so many things to do! Why are you sitting on your ass writing?” And I reply, “thank you, mind, for reminding me of the deck, the porch, the wood, the staining, the book, the launch, the music studio waiting in the basement, the job, the bank account and the car payment but I am here, among friends, here, now, and those things are not.”

Happy Trails!

Simon Lindley is a former publisher and Luddite of old-world printing, and has been banging out ideas since the days of correction tape and typewriters (hey, it wasn’t that long ago). He lives in the Canadian Rockies with his wife and two dogs, and spends most of his time daydreaming, chopping wood, hiking in the alpine and hammering on the keyboard, usually with a little too much fervor. He is currently working on Book Two of the Key of Life Trilogy and a new Urban Fantasy Series entitled, Gaia’s Assassin.
You can follow Simon on twitter: @Simon_Lindley, or on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AuthorSimonLindley

Like this:

3 Comments

I knew you were writting one but did you finish it?? And id so where can we get it? Or can you send us one and we will pay you? YES WE WILL PAY YOU!!! Oh by the way… where did you get the picture of me with my new hair doooo!! Pretty fancy NO?